If you own a classic car, you know how rusty a gas tank can be. I cleaned and restored the gas tank in my Sunbeam Alpine. Do I recommend doing it? Yes, but it’s not a job everyone can do.
I’ve owned this car for over 20 years and had a guy “clean” the tank for me when I bought it. I kept the tank full and used a fuel additive to keep it from rusting. But over time it just caught up to me and needed attention.
As you can see, the fuel filter is a funky orange color. This had finally caused my carbs to clog up.
Once I drained the tank I could see the sediment and the orange gas.
Here’s a cool trick I learned. To start siphoning, instead of sucking on the drain tube, put a plastic bag or even a rag over the gas tank filler then use compressed air to “push” the siphon to start.
Once I had the tank out I could see how rusty it was. That tube in the center is where it gets drawn from the fuel pump.
That red round piece comes off. It holds the fuel level gauge sender. That allowed me to take my picture inside the tank.
I considered different ways to clean the tank. This fellow decided to boil his. I chose another way by using muriatic acid and water (extremely dangerous).
I googled how to use this and stayed far away from the toxic gas. It can kill you.
This is how it looked after the acid. But I wasn’t done. The acid ate away rusty metal and left me with a pinhole leak. I didn’t realize this until I filled it up with gas and drove around for a few days. So the tank came out again and I had to clean again.
This time I bought the POR-15 kit. I bought at an auto part store that sells a lot so I could be sure it was fresh.
Here’s how it looked when done. I followed the directions exactly because I didn’t want to remove this again. Will anyone appreciate this or even know I did it? No, but my fuel system is clean now.
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